Betty Cantrell Roberts (February 5, 1923 – June 25, 2011) was an American
politician
A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
and
judge
A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...
from the U.S. state of
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
. She was the 83rd justice of the
Oregon Supreme Court
The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest State court (United States), state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States. . She was the first woman to serve on the Oregon Supreme Court, and had also been the first woman on the
Oregon Court of Appeals
The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the US state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has thirteen judges and is located in Salem. Except for death penalty cases, which are reserved to the O ...
. Roberts served from 1982 to 1986 on the high court and from 1977 to 1982 on the Court of Appeals.
A native of
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
and raised in Texas, Roberts had previously been elected to both chambers of the
Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the State legislature (United States), state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper house, upper and lower chamber: the Oregon State Senate, Sena ...
, but lost bids for the
governor's office and the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
, both in 1974. She was married three times, including to
Frank L. Roberts and
Keith Skelton, both of whom she would serve with in the
Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the State legislature (United States), state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper house, upper and lower chamber: the Oregon State Senate, Sena ...
. She was a private mediator and senior judge until her death due to
pulmonary fibrosis
Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which the lungs become scarred over time. Symptoms include shortness of breath, a dry cough, feeling tired, weight loss, and nail clubbing. Complications may include pulmonary hypertension, respiratory ...
.
Early life
Betty Cantrell was born in
Arkansas City, Kansas
Arkansas City () is a city in Cowley County, Kansas, United States, situated at the confluence of the Arkansas and Walnut rivers in the southwestern part of the county. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 11,974.
Pronunc ...
, on February 5, 1923.
["Betty Roberts", '']Statesman Journal
The ''Statesman Journal'' is the major daily newspaper published in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1851 as the ''Oregon Statesman'', it later merged with the ''Capital Journal'' to form the current newspaper, the second-oldest in Orego ...
'', March 25, 2007.[O'Neil, Katherine]
“Women Trailblazers in the Law: Oral History Betty Roberts, Tape 6, Side 1”
ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, 2005. Retrieved March 24, 2009. When she was six, her father became partially paralyzed and the family moved to Texas to be near her mother's family.
[ In Texas, Roberts was raised poor during the ]Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
of the 1930s.[ABA: 2006 Margaret Brent Awards: Betty Roberts.](_blank)
American Bar Association. Retrieved January 22, 2008. She graduated from high school and then attended Texas Wesleyan College in Ft. Worth for one year starting in 1940.[The Honorable Betty Roberts Former Oregon Supreme Court Justice.]
NEW Leadership Oregon. Retrieved January 22, 2008. In 1942, during WWII
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, she married John Willard (Bill) Rice, a young soldier from Oregon who was stationed at Sheppard Field
Sheppard Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located north of the central business district of Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls, in Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the largest training base and most divers ...
. After the war they moved to Oregon, where Bill was a banker, with the family living in Klamath Falls, Lakeview, Gresham, and La Grande. By the 1950s Roberts was the mother of four children, Dian, John Jr., Jo, and Randy.
Roberts enrolled at Eastern Oregon College
Eastern Oregon University (EOU) (officially designated as Oregon’s Rural University) is a public university in La Grande, Oregon. It was formerly part of the since dissolved Oregon University System. EOU was founded in 1929 as a teacher’s ...
in La Grande for a single year in 1955.[Zarov, Ira]
“Feature: Book Review: A “Tell-enough” Memoir: Chronicle of a 20th Century Pioneer”
''The Oregon State Bar Bulletin'', May 2008, Vol. 68, p. 38. After the family moved to Portland, she enrolled at Portland State College
Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the next ...
where she graduated in 1958 with a bachelor of science degree in education.[ From 1958 to 1967, Roberts taught high school in the ]Portland metropolitan area
The Portland metropolitan area is a metropolitan area, metro area with its urban area, core in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington (state), Washington. It has 5 principal cities, the largest being Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Man ...
at Reynolds High School, Centennial High School, and David Douglas High School
David Douglas High School (DDHS) is a public high school in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is a part of the David Douglas School District. DDHS is the largest high school in the state of Oregon.
Its attendance boundary includes eastern Port ...
before moving on to teach business law and political science at Mt. Hood Community College
Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC) is a public community college in Gresham, Oregon, United States, named after Mount Hood. Opened in 1966, MHCC enrolls around 30,000 students each year and offers classes at the main campus in Gresham, as well as ...
from 1967 to 1976.[Leeson, F. (1998). ''Rose City Justice: A Legal History of Portland, Oregon''. Portland, Or: Oregon Historical Society Press, Published in cooperation with the Oregon State Bar. pp.195–199.] She and Bill Rice divorced in 1959. She became a member of the Lynch Elementary School District school board, serving from 1960 to 1966.[ She married Frank L. Roberts in 1960, adopting his name and retaining it after their divorce in 1965.]
Roberts went on to earn a master's degree in political science from the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...
in 1962.[ She then attended Northwestern School of Law (now ]Lewis & Clark Law School
The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (also known as Lewis & Clark Law School), is an American Bar Association#Accreditation of U.S. law schools since 1923, American Bar Association-approved private law school in the United ...
) in Portland, where she graduated in 1966 with her Juris Doctor.[ She earned her degree while attending evening classes at the school, much like she earned her early degrees.] During this time she was still teaching high school and successfully ran for a seat in Oregon's House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
.
Political career
Elected in 1964 to the Oregon House as a Democrat from Multnomah County
Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The state's smallest and most populous county, it ...
, Roberts won re-election in 1966. In 1968, she won election to the Oregon Senate
The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the state Sena ...
representing Multnomah County in District 12, and was the only woman in the Oregon Senate at that time. That same year she married fellow legislator Keith D. Skelton, but retained the Roberts surname.[ However, the ]Oregon State Bar
The Oregon State Bar (OSB) is a public corporation and instrumentality of the Oregon Judicial Department in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 1890 as the private Oregon Bar Association, it became a public entity in 1935 that regulates the lega ...
, ''The Oregonian
''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...
'' newspaper, and the state elections division refused to abide by her decision.[ She threatened legal action, and eventually was no longer referred to as Mrs. Betty Skelton.][ While in the Senate she was a cosponsor of the ]Oregon Bottle Bill
The Oregon Bottle Bill is a container-deposit legislation enacted in the U.S. state of Oregon in 1971 that went into effect in October 1972. It was the first such legislation in the United States. It was amended in 2007 and 2011. It requires ...
that passed in 1971, the first of its kind in the nation.[ In 1972, Roberts was re-elected to the Senate for another four-year term.
In 1974, Roberts ran for governor of Oregon (the fifth woman to do so), but lost in the Democratic primary to Robert W. Straub.][ Later that year, following the death of Democratic nominee ]Wayne Morse
Wayne Lyman Morse (October 20, 1900 – July 22, 1974) was an American attorney and United States Senator from Oregon. Morse is well known for opposing the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party’s leadership and for his opposition t ...
, she was picked by the Democratic Party to run on the November ballot for the United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
, an unsuccessful bid against incumbent Bob Packwood
Robert William Packwood (born September 11, 1932) is an American retired lawyer and politician from Oregon who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1969 to 1995. He resigned from the U.S. Senate under threat of expulsion, in 1995 ...
.[ In 1975, she was named the Education Citizen of the Year Award by the ]Oregon Education Association
The Oregon Education Association (OEA) stands as the largest public education employees' union in the U.S. state of Oregon, advocating for the interests of 44,000 teachers and classified personnel. With local affiliates established in each of the ...
[ and the Woman of the Year by the Oregon Women's Political Caucus.] The next year the Oregon Conference of Seventh Day Adventists gave her their Liberty Award.[ During this time Roberts also served as a delegate to the ]Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...
in 1968, 1972, and 1976, while also practicing law at the firm Skelton & Roberts from 1967 to 1977.[ She chaired ]Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
's presidential campaign in Oregon in 1976.[
]
Judicial career
On September 1, 1977, Governor Robert W. Straub, a former opponent, appointed Roberts to the Oregon Court of Appeals
The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the US state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has thirteen judges and is located in Salem. Except for death penalty cases, which are reserved to the O ...
to a new position, along with W. Michael Gillette
W. Michael Gillette (born December 29, 1941) is an American attorney and retired judge in the state of Oregon. He was a justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, where he served from 1986 until 2010. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he was previously ...
, George M. Joseph, and John Buttler, when the court expanded from six to ten positions.[Oregon Blue Book: Election History of Oregon.]
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved January 22, 2008.[Oregon Blue Book: Oregon Court of Appeals Judges.]
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved January 22, 2008. Roberts was the first woman on that court, as well as the first on any appellate court
An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appel ...
in Oregon.[Previous Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award Recipients.]
American Bar Association. Retrieved January 22, 2008. The next year, she was up for election to retain her seat on the court, and won the election to a full six-year term.[ While on the court, she faced ]discrimination
Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...
from some judges due to her gender, as the chief judge had been against the nomination of a woman to the court.[
Prior to completing her term on the court, Roberts resigned on February 8, 1982, when she was appointed by Governor ]Victor G. Atiyeh
Victor George Atiyeh (; February 20, 1923 – July 20, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 32nd governor of Oregon from 1979 to 1987. He was also the first elected governor of Middle Eastern descent and of Syrian descent in the U ...
to the Oregon Supreme Court.[Oregon Blue Book: Supreme Court Justices of Oregon.]
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved January 22, 2008. She was appointed to replace the retiring Justice Thomas Tongue, becoming the first woman on the Supreme Court.[ Later that year, she won election to a full six-year term on the court.][ In 1982, she wrote the opinion in ''State v. Charles'' (293 Or. 273), which adopted the ]duty to retreat
In law, the duty to retreat, or requirement of safe retreat,''Criminal Law - Cases and Materials'', 7th ed. 2012, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder, /ref> is a legal requirement in some jurisdictions ...
in Oregon.[Mason, Thomas L. "Feature: The Well-Armed Lawyer: Guns, Deadly Force and the Duty to Retreat in Oregon", ''The Oregon State Bar Bulletin'', December 1995, Vol. 56, p. 9.] This requires people to attempt to retreat in most situations before one could use deadly force, even in self-defense.[ That same year she wrote the opinion in the workers' compensation case, ''Hewitt v. SAIF'', that men and women have equal rights under the ]Oregon Constitution
The Oregon Constitution is the governing document of the U.S. state of Oregon, originally enacted in 1857. As amended the current state constitution contains eighteen sections, beginning with a bill of rights. , and so effectively gave Oregon an Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution that would explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It is not currently a part of the Constitution, though its Ratifi ...
.
Roberts was the sole dissenting justice in ''Bank of Oregon v. Independent News'' (298 Ore. 434), when the court ruled that banks were not public figures, making it easier for banks and their officials to sue journalists for libel. While on the bench, Roberts was recognized by both the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...
and Portland State University
Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the next ...
for distinguished service.[ On February 7, 1986,][ she resigned her position on the court.][O'Neil, Katherine]
“Women Trailblazers in the Law: Oral History Betty Roberts, Tape 6, Side 1”
ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, November 16, 2005. Retrieved March 24, 2009. Roberts left in part due to the heavy workload of the job, in part due to the daily commute between her home in Portland and the Oregon Supreme Court Building in Salem, partly due to the stress of the job, and in part because her husband was retiring and asked her to travel with him.[
]
Later years and family
Robert's marriage to Keith Skelton lasted until his death on October 23, 1995. In 1986, Oregon's Mary Leonard Law Society for women attorneys gave Roberts their Distinguished Service Award, and the following year the Oregon State Bar Association
The Oregon State Bar (OSB) is a public corporation and instrumentality of the Oregon Judicial Department in the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 1890 as the private Oregon Bar Association, it became a public entity in 1935 that regulates the lega ...
granted her an Award of Merit, with the Oregon American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million.
T ...
awarding her a Civil Liberties Award. After leaving the Oregon Supreme Court
The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest State court (United States), state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States. she was asked to help broker a settlement in a case by the Chief Justice, which led to a career in alternative dispute resolution, primarily as a mediator, but also as an arbitrator.
Roberts helped organize opposition in Oregon to Robert Bork's U.S. Supreme Court nomination. From 1988 to 1991, she was a visiting professor in political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
at Oregon State University
Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...
.[ In 1988, she received recognition from Portland State University, Oregon State University, and ]Lewis & Clark Law School
The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (also known as Lewis & Clark Law School), is an American Bar Association#Accreditation of U.S. law schools since 1923, American Bar Association-approved private law school in the United ...
.[ She also served on the state's Commission on Higher Education in the late 1980s.
In 1992, Roberts was given the award bearing her name from the Oregon Women Lawyers.] She earned the E. B. MacNaughton Civil Liberties Award from the ACLU in 2004.
In March 2004, she presided over the first legal same-sex marriage in Oregon
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Oregon since May 19, 2014, when Judge Michael J. McShane of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, U.S. District Court for the District Court of Oregon ruled in ''Geiger v. K ...
, which was held during a brief period when Multnomah County issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
In 2006, the American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...
awarded her the Margaret Brent Award from its Commission on Women in the Profession.
As of 2008, Roberts served as a private mediator
Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...
in the Portland area, and was a senior judge in Oregon, subject to recall to serve as a temporary judge. Her autobiography, ''With Grit and By Grace, Breaking Trails in Politics and Law'', was published in 2008.
Roberts died in her Portland home of pulmonary fibrosis
Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which the lungs become scarred over time. Symptoms include shortness of breath, a dry cough, feeling tired, weight loss, and nail clubbing. Complications may include pulmonary hypertension, respiratory ...
on June 25, 2011. Representative Earl Blumenauer
Earl Francis Blumenauer ( ; born August 16, 1948) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 1996 to 2025. The district includes most of Portland, Oregon, ...
stated "She was one of a kind.... for over a quarter century, Betty Roberts had as much impact on the political process as anyone in Oregon."
See also
*List of female state supreme court justices
Female state supreme court justices
First female justices
Below is a list of the names of the first woman to sit on the highest court of their respective states in the United States.
The first state with a female justice was Ohio; Florence ...
* List of first women lawyers and judges in Oregon
References
External links
*"Oral History of Betty Roberts", an extensive interview by the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession. Transcript, in six parts
1
2
3
4
5
6
The Living History of Women in the Law
Betty Roberts - (1923–2011)
in the ''Oregon Encyclopedia
''The Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture'' is a collaborative encyclopedia focused on the history and culture of the U.S. state of Oregon.
Description
The encyclopedia is a project of Portland State University's History Department, the O ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Betty
1923 births
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Respiratory disease deaths in Oregon
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Lewis & Clark Law School alumni
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Oregon Court of Appeals judges
Democratic Party Oregon state senators
Oregon State University faculty
Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court
People from Arkansas City, Kansas
People from Texas
Portland State University alumni
Roberts family (Oregon)
School board members in Oregon
University of Oregon alumni
Women state legislators in Oregon
Writers from Oregon
20th-century American judges
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